History
Freestyle rapping is generally believed to have originated in the East Coast hip hop scene in the late 1970s. The earliest MCs would spit freestyled lyrics at parties to pump up the crowd.
From this the freestyle battles begin to emerge. Perhaps the earliest and most famous freestyle battle was in 1981 when Kool Moe Dee challenged Busy Bee Starski.Busy Bee was known for his chants of "What's your zodiac sign?" andother crowdpleasers that had been originated a few years before byother rappers. Moe Dee came out with lines of hard disrespect for BusyBee:
Every time I hear it I throw a fit / Party after party the same oleshit / Record after record, rhyme after rhyme / Always wanna know yourzodiac sign / He changed the shit to your favorite jeans / Come on BusyBee tell me what that means / Hold on brother man don't you say nothin'/ I'm not finished yet, I gotta tell you somethin'... (Vibe)
Freestyle battles sometimes bring mainstream attention to previouslyunknown rappers. This type of rapping also proves useful when beefarises between two rappers. A diss can include attacks on credibility,threats of violence, or simply bragging that one is better than theother. Disses can also be recorded over the rival rapper's beat to addfurther disrespect. Allegations of sleeping with the another rapper'ssignificant other have become increasingly popular in disses (such as 2Pac claiming to have slept with Biggie's wife, or Jay-Z claiming to have slept with Nas'baby's mother). Many times the audience wants to hear an immediateresponse from the two people involved in the beef(hip hop rivalry orconflict). This makes way for so-called freestyle records. One artisttakes a beat that is already out in the mainstream and spits over it sothat they can quickly put something out to diss the other rapperinvolved. When rappers freestyle most of the time all attention shiftsto them because it is so intense, which is why some artist are believedto start beef to boost sales. Freestyles are the probably the mostexciting aspect of hip hop because they’re on the spot captions of theworld around them.
[edit] Methodology
Due to the improvised nature of freestyle, rules for meter and rhythmare usually more relaxed than in conventional rap. Many artists basetheir set on the situation and mental state, but have a ready supply ofprepared lyrics and rhyme patterns they can use as filler or evenaround which they can build their set. Often, freestyling is done in agroup setting (called a cypher) or as part of a freestyle battle.In these cases, freestyle verses are often prepared in the rapper'shead as the other rappers in the cypher or the opponent in the battletake their turn. Freestyling is also often used by many rappers whenbeginning to write a song, in order to get a feel for the beat and tobrainstorm lyrical ideas.
[edit] Freestyle Rappers
[edit] Battles
A freestyle battle is a contest in which two or more rappers compete or battle each other using freestyle rap. Each competitor's goal is to 'diss'their opponent through clever lyrics. As hip-hop evolved in theearly-80's MCs gained their fame through live battles with other MCs.Freestyle battles can take place anywhere, street corners, on stage ata concert, or even in a school.
A live audience is critical to a freestyle battle. Each MC must use skill and lyrical ability to not only break down his or her opponent, but to convince the audience that they are the better rapper. Appointed judgeshave been used in formal contests, but even when no winner isannounced, the rapper who receives the best audience response is viewedas the victor. In addition, it is considered an act of dishonour to recite written and memorized raps in a battle, because it shows the rapper to be incapable of spitting spur-of-the-moment lyrics.
Freestyle battling is a prominent part of rap or hip hop culture.
[edit] Recent History
Freestyles have been mostly an underground phenomenon since theearly nineties, partly due to rap lyrics becoming considerably morecomplex in terms of rhyme schemeand meter. Furthermore, many rappers often deliver standalone writtenverses on radio shows that are referred to or labelled on records or onfilesharingprograms as freestyles, which has somewhat distorted the meaning of theterm. There is often confusion as to whether or not "freestyle verses"are in fact freestyled, with many rappers' written lyrics being simpleenough to seem freestyled and many of the best freestylers' improvisedlyrics being complex and confident enough to seem written.
In the early 21st century,freestyling (particularly freestyle battling) experienced a resurgencein popularity of sorts as successful freestyle battle competition TVshows were shown by both BET and MTV. In addition, Eminem's movie 8 Milebrought the excitement of the freestyle battle to mainstream movieaudiences. Freestyle Friday is a watered-down battle segment on BET'spopular show 106 & Park.Two rappers compete in a freestyle battle before the studio audienceand three celebrity judges (the DJ sometimes acts as the 3rd judge).Each competitor alternates freestyling for 30 seconds in each of thetwo rounds (originally only 1 round when the segment first began). Therappers are not allowed to use profanities or sexually suggestivelyrics, punishable by disqualification. After the battle, the judgesdecide the winner, per majority vote.
Traditionally, a battle usually takes place before live audiences.Recently, however, the Internet has been used as a forum to hold onlinebattles. Proponents of this developing artform that some call "text"say that the Internet provides a safe environment for artists topractice their skills. Without being hindered by beats, an onlinewriter (or 'netcee') may use the full range of his or her imaginationand vocabulary in a battle. When the online writer is writingeverything that comes into his or her head, this is often called a"keystyle".
"Text heads", the term used for rap battlers on online forums, aresometimes dismissed for their lack of ability to record a song, pump upcrowd, or doing an actual freestyle.
Recently, emcees have been able to record vocals online too, on freestlye community sites like Dopetracks which offer users the ability to rap battles with vocal recording software built in.